I was listening to CBC Radio One'sAs it Happens this evening. (Not a normal listen for me: their rather tweedy leftish slant and their voices grate on me) They were interviewing a 'friend' of Margaret Hassan. This so called friend started out rather normally, talking about the unfortunate apparent killing of Ms. Hassan by terrorists of one stripe or another in Iraq. But I kept hearing jarring notes in his speech...he kept mentioning the destruction wrought by the US and by the "US-inspired" sanctions and so forth. Then I knew I had an asshat on my radio when he started in on how we should talk to the "terrorist NGOs" (his words, no shit) and try to work through the problems that way. I just swore out loud in my kitchen (thereby scandalizing my roommates). I yelled back at the radio: you dumbass! These filthy swine kill your friend and you want to talk to them and listen to their feelings?

After the interview all became clear though: the announcer mentioned his name, which I didn't properly hear, and his former job: Undersecretary-general of the United Nations. As the Germans say, Alles Klar!